Whether you have a new website or a blog you run, there are certain WordPress plugins you should have. Installing plugins will help in your blog or website development by adding some unique features that not only help your website stand out from the rest but also enhance user convenience. There are as many as 57,000+ plugins you can add to your website.
Therefore, to make it easier for you, we have all the information you need to know about the Best WordPress Plugins for you to install. Before diving into it, here are a few things you should consider first:
Searching for the right Plugin for your Website
You can easily look through the categories and statistics of how many times each plugin has been downloaded on WordPress.org. However, you will still have to scroll through thousands of irrelevant ones; this is why we highly recommend you to read this article till the very end.
Filtering Out
You should have a list of the things you are looking for and only install the plugins that suit your requirements best. Not every plugin will complement the purpose of your website.
Furthermore, you can find most of the plugins you need for free on WordPress.org and premium ones on other websites offering.
Checking Reviews
Most of the free plugins do not guarantee customer support. While making a decision to go for a plugin, make sure it has a good support forum.
Method of Installation
You can install a free plugin easily from the admin part of your website by going to Plugins and clicking Add New. Then search for the one you want, install it and activate the plugin.
In case of downloading a plugin in a zip file, you need to Upload Plugin by clicking Add New in the Plugins area. Once you have uploaded the zip file, simply click Install Now.
Make sure to activate your Plugin before using it on your WordPress website.
The 20 Best WordPress Plugins
As promised, here are the top 20 best WordPress Plugins that we recommend for you to enhance the functionality of your website.
1. Yoast SEO
This is the best SEO plugin on the market which will bring more users to your website. It offers all that you need to make your content more SEO-friendly and attract more visitors. It offers features like robot, control, XML sitemaps, Meta information editing, optimization for Google Search Engine and a lot more.
This plugin forces you to choose a keyword and remain strictly bound to it in your articles. This helps create content that users are looking for, thus, increasing your website traffic. In order to gain the trust of users, Yoast SEO lets you create good content that they term as sustainable SEO. It allows you to alter your Meta description, which improves your click-through rates in search results.
2. WPML
The WordPress Multilingual Plugin lets you easily create a multilingual website for a business with a customer base from different parts of the world. Since other websites do not allow you to create this sort of website, this is where WPML comes in handy.
It is SEO-friendly, user-friendly, and allows you to create content in multiple languages on your website. It has 40+ languages and translates your website into any language a person is looking for.
3. WooCommerce
WooCommerce is the top e-Commerce WordPress plugin. It helps you sell products and services, whether it be physical or digital goods on your website. Thanks to its fabulous never-ending customizing properties, it lets you show reviews for products, add countless images on each product, add their descriptions, set different currencies, and much more.
You can create an online store and increase your customers. It also comes with PayPal, Cash on Delivery and BACS paying method. If you want more payment sources, you can also get add-ons for your WooCommerce. In order to help you walk through the steps to get a better experience, they provide documentation that shows you how to build an online store.
4. Smush
Images really bring out the look of your website and create a more captivating ambiance. Unfortunately, they also decrease the speed of your website and take up a lot of storage space. This is where the Smush plugin comes into play and resolves the issue.
Smush optimizes the size of your pictures by suppressing them but keeping the original quality intact thus saving storage space. It optimizes all the images in PNG, GIF and JPEG formats.
5. OptinMonster
OptinMonster is the most incredible lead generation plugin out there. It converts visitors into customers and buyers by its high functioning pre-built templates. You can attract customers by building the perfect campaign type. It has a segmentation option which lets you show different messages for different demographics. Some of its key features are:
- Onsite Follow-up Campaigns: You can follow your visitor with triggering campaigns based on their previous interactions on the site.
- Exit-Intent Technology: You can show customized campaigns to visitors who are about to leave right at the moment they are about to abandon.
- Onsite Retargeting: Based on their interactions on the site you can show visitors special offers.
- Cookie Retargeting: Create highly targeted campaigns based on the visitor’s demographics by creating custom browsing cookies.
6. WP Forms
It is important for every site to have an interactive form for customers to get in touch. WP Forms allows you to create customer-friendly forms for visitors to get into touch with you. This drag and drop form allows you to build contact forms, subscriptions, payment forms, order forms, and many more.
It comes with famous payment and marketing platforms allowing you to create robust forms in a matter of minutes. It also lets you create a WordPress user registration form and login page
7. MonsterInsights
MonsterInsights connects you properly to Google Analytics so that you can see how each visitor comes across and uses your site. You can view all the statistics right in your WordPress dashboard. This helps you know exactly how you need to optimize your website traffic and subscribers.
8. Sucuri
Sucuri is a WordPress security plugin that protects your website by offering you the best protection which is the web application firewall. They protect your site from all types of attacks and we all know how important it is to put up a firewall.
It is a super-easy-to-manage plugin and helps you with malware scanning. You can control all of this right from your WordPress dashboard.
9. Insert Headers and Footers
For verification, retargeting scripts, inserting ads, etc., you may sometimes be adding code snippets to your WordPress. To make this less tedious, Insert Headers and Footers allows you to add code snippets without the need to edit theme files.
10. Bloom
Bloom is the top email list WordPress plugin. It has over 100 email subscription templates for you to choose from and those that you can easily customize to match the outlook of your brand.
11. Monarch
Monarch sharing plugin has been put out by elegant themes. Monarch has been praised all around the world and has been able to attract the attention of many bloggers. It’s also known as the standalone WordPress plugin because of its usability; you just have to download it and activate it to get going.
The premium plugin has ‘follow’ and ‘share’ buttons for social media. Moreover, it gives you unique features like sharing statistical analysis for your social media. The plugin comes well within your budget and won’t put a toll on the website you are running it on.
12. Buddy Press
The BuddyPress is a software that allows you to help build a community in a WordPress site. It permits just site individuals to add reviews to the buddy press individuals on the site. However, if an individual isn’t signed in, he can only observe the reviews and not post something.
Its BP profile module is designed to be dependable, adaptable and secure. Its creators have endeavored to make it simple to use and are constantly updating it for enhanced user experience.
13. HubSpot
HubSpot is an across-the-board plugin that incorporates advertising, deals, and administration programming that enables your business to develop without bargain. The software offers a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) framework and further offers email templates which are easy to customize and gives you an email personalization advantage.
Furthermore, its sequence tool overtime helps you to nurture your contacts while automating your communication with your clients.
14. PushEngage
PushEngage upholds all programs that help Web Push – Chrome, Firefox, and Microsoft Edge etc. It offers customized web pop-up messages, utilizing the programmed division of your endorsers and automated assistants to send them notices.
Some features that will assist you with better performance are Advanced Investigation, Dynamic Segmentation, A/B Testing, Revenue Tracking, and Inventory Alert. Moreover, it monitors user behavior and encourages personalized endeavors of the likes of Browse Abandonment, Price Alerts and so much more.
15. TrustPulse
The TrustPulse is a WordPress plugin that will really increase website conversion and enable people to take action on your site. The software comes with built-in ready-to-use designs and will surely assist you in converting the general public into your valued customers. Its key features are its real-time event tracking, on-fire notifications, smart targeting and so much more.
The software is both easy to set up and easy to use and can surely play a vital role in widening the customer base for your site.
16. Updraft Plus
Updraft Plus is a user-friendly tool that is an extraordinary WordPress backup plugin. The software automatically backs up and stores data in a cloud or a hosting service. This software is the way to go if you are interested in carrying out database backups. Surely, it’s a tool that would really benefit you.
17. Akismet
Akismet is one of the few plugins that would work well for all WordPress websites. The software is very efficient and easy to use. It thoroughly filters comments on your site and acts as the best spam protection tool for WordPress and helps you save a lot of time. The best part? It comes at an affordable price considering the features it comes with.
18. Redirection
Redirection acts as an efficient SEO solution software. It collects and analyses live traffic logs and it helps you to deal with any underlying HTTP issues on your website. In a friendly GUI, you can set up and manage redirections rules for your website while keeping up user satisfaction.
19. RafflePress
The RafflePress is thought to be a great getaway plugin. It makes it very easy for you to run online contests while being a tool that is easy to use and is an effective one at the same time. The plugin will help you generate targeted sales and leads, increase website traffic, and grow your email list.
20. CSS Hero
The CSS Hero will allow you to design a WordPress template without having to write any sort of code. It really saves you time with making customized templates with your site and will help you make changes without the worry of you losing the changes you have made. The affordable tool has a list of compatible themes that are being added to it time and again.
Bonus Tools
Apart from these amazing plugins, you should also consider the following tools to make your content more appealing.
- Grammarly: Checks grammar and plagiarism.
- Adobe Photoshop: Makes creating images and thumbnails for blogs easier
- Antispam Bee: filters spam in your comment section.
- PublishPress: Makes it easier to manage editorial workflow.
There are many more bonus tools for you to work with. Make sure to choose the correct ones.
Final Verdict
This concludes our search for the top 20 best WordPress plugins. These plugins bring you better content, provide security, improve SEO of the site, optimize speed and help market your site in a more effective way. Have you narrowed down a few of the plugins you’ll be using on our site soon? Let us know below!